MA
2008-2009
33 WEEKS
MA PROJECT
BY MARI HELEN WAHLBERG
contact info.
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name: mari helen wahlberg phone: +46 (0)736 31 88 38 web: www.mhw.se
abstract.
When does a flat surface become an architectural space? Is a two-dimensional surface also a three-dimensional space?
This is a story of the process of making a chair. A story that combines my past and my present way of thinking and working within the field of Design & Architecture. It is an examination of reduction - or to be more precise - the journey from complexity to simplicity. How the knowing of an item and its function can reduce superflu-ous.
And the theme is the chair as an archetype – a symbol of itself.
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introduction 01.
Through this rapport I get the opportunity to describe my journey though a period of time. It is a story of the process of making a chair, a story that combines my past and my present way of thinking and working within the field of Design & Architecture.
It is me telling a story from my perspective. And the theme is the chair as an archetype.
Before my studies at Konstfack I worked as a graphic
designer at an advertising company, a work that includes print, conceptual work, branding, ads, typefaces, presen-tation. Basically communication; telling a story.
As a student of interior architecture the main emphasis is working with spaces and architectural principles in the design of structural interiors for living, recreational, and business purposes. By dealing not only with structures, technical systems, safety standards and interior design it also contains: details, plans, lightning, environmental psychology, architecture and furniture design.
The field an interior architect constitutes working with different scales in a collaborative team with architects, project managers, engineers and designers.
This means that one space and/or object is the centre of different perspectives. One could also say: from different settings.
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purpose 03.
A chair is to sit on. It has its occasions, expressions and
aims.
My purpose is to make a piece of furniture that does not scream. A quiet and almost invisible furniture. Minimal to make people visible.
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method 04.
By placing the dismantled pieces on the floor they became as two-dimensional shapes that I suddenly could interpret and continue with by making illustrations and drawings. So by relating to the chair as an object and destroying it, the result became a play with
two-dimensional shapes. The chair in my mind started to form and the outcome is to be presented at appointed date for examination.
Through this way of working I found an understanding of the chair as a shape, an object and as a furniture. The initial part of this project has been trying to convince
myself why and how I am supposed to solve my own expectations of making the chair I desiderate - a shape that embodies the three-dimensional form but with a two-dimensional expression.
Quoting the Astronomer Carl Sagan (1934 - 1996) “If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe.”
During the process I have had two specific reference objects in mind. Firstly Naoto Fukazawa’s chair “The chair-like chair in our imaginations” for its calmness, finish and simplicity.
Secondly “Plywood chair” made by Jasper Morrison for an installation in Berlin, is a clean straight-on chair that also captures the format of a chair.
To be able to fulfill my project, which is to examine the relationship between surface and space, I have chosen explore the shape of a chair as main object for my final MA project.
As method I started working full scale in materials such as pinewood, plywood, MDF board and paper.
Using an already existing chair I had bought at Myrorna Second hand (made by an unknown craftsman) for another furniture design project, I polished off the paint and dismantled it.
polaroid of a chair 05.
unknown chair 06.
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background 07.
The chair: a symbol or furniture? Answer: Depending on the context.
Since ancient Egypt the chair has been an important piece of furniture. Made from different materials such as ebony, marble and wood its design had different
expressions due to time and culture. It could be a symbol of status, marked the high rank of the seated person. Or maybe used pragmatic for a domestic worker as a stool reaching the top shelf.
Today there is also a territorial way of thinking towards seating, for example to mark (similar to graffiti tags) your chair with clothes to signal it is yours to sit on. In the field of Interior Design & Architecture a chair is almost a necessity. We need something to sit on while dining in a restaurant, attending school, reading in a library, working in an office and so on. Both public and private spaces are designed for the usage of chairs, form and function. The way of sitting has also different outcomes depending from where in the cultural world you live in and the country’s history. We can change the shape, material, structure and construction, but not the purpose. A chair is four legs a seat and a back. That we can agree on.
When does a flat surface become an architectural space? Is a two-dimensional surface also a three-dimensional space?
For example; in my essay “Concetto Spaziale/ Attese/ Spatial Concept/ Waiting” written in September 2008 my discussion was to analyze and problematize the relation-ship between surface and space, using the painting Conc-etto Spaziale/Attese 1964-1965 in the series of the same name, made by Argentinean artist Lucio Fontana. The painting is 57.5 x 45 inches all white tempera on canvas, lacquered wood, unframed with one diagonal cut in the middle.
My conclusion in the essay was that the connection between surface and space is time, for what constitutes time is change.
The moment when the surface stops being a surface is when it gets perforated. The cut is the change.
The time when something changes is when an act takes place. If a two-dimensional surface is to become a three-dimensional one, an action has to occur.
This essay was an investigation of the connection and relationship between surface and space through a painting that lured me.
What kind of questions does a white painting with a cut ask you? The painting seizes to be a two-dimensional surface when perforated and becomes a subject of differ-ent dimensions instead.
h a
Typeface: Osaka Points: 60
illustrations 08.
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form & material 09.
The chair as a graphical symbol was the foundation of the shape, the form, and through this my aim is to design a chair that from each view side looks like my symbol of a chair and an expression of ease.
Working with the idea to make a chair that legibly looks graphical was a lot harder to do than I assumed. Since the shape of the chair is to look graphical I decided not to use a material that radiate hard- and coldness, such as metal or plastic but instead invites a warm and tender feeling. With that in mind I chose to work with wood.
My choice of material also has a historical reference and a value that will make the chair change due to time. I want it to get worn, but still have an upright graphic expression. But to not end up in a deadlock due to the materials own weaknesses, my final decision of what kind of wood I chose was late in the process.
25 MM 25 MM 380 MM 390 MM 340 MM 25 MM 25 MM 835 MM 25 MM 470 MM 27 MM 35 MM 30 MM 29 MM 380 MM
the chair 10.
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analysis 11.
The chair: a symbol or furniture? Answer: Depending on the context.
Since ancient Egypt the chair has been an important piece of furniture. Made from different materials such as ebony, marble and wood its design had different
expressions due to time and culture. It could be a symbol of status, marked the high rank of the seated person. Or maybe used pragmatic for a domestic worker as a stool reaching the top shelf.
Today there is also a territorial way of thinking towards seating, for example to mark (similar to graffiti tags) your chair with clothes to signal it is yours to sit on. In the field of Interior Design & Architecture a chair is almost a necessity. We need something to sit on while dining in a restaurant, attending school, reading in a library, working in an office and so on. Both public and private spaces are designed for the usage of chairs, form and function. The way of sitting has also different outcomes depending from where in the cultural world you live in and the country’s history. We can change the shape, material, structure and construction, but not the purpose. A chair is four legs a seat and a back. That we can agree on.
An object is what it perceives to be. A chair is a shape with four legs and a back. So how do we communicate the expression of a chair? Not as an abstraction from nature but from our minds?
The search for another dimension might be adaptable also in a sense of finding a new dimension of how we find the chair.
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acknowledgements 12.
Thank You Jonas Bohlin, Professor in Furniture Design and Karin Nyrén, Professor in Interior Architecture at the Dep. of Interior Architecture & Furniture Design Konst-fack for instructive comments and sharing their great experience in the field of design and architecture. A special Thank You my to Lars Stensö, senior teacher and Inger Bengtsson, technician for their enormous skills and knowledge, trust and support.
